


and what happened after?

by tekina_fiction



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (IDW Comics), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety Attacks, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Gardens & Gardening, M/M, Metal Virus, One Shot, Quarantine, Stay Home With Sonic Charity Fanzine, im back bitches, sonilver if you squint but its not the focus, yall ever project in a zine piece??? thats me!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:48:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29595117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tekina_fiction/pseuds/tekina_fiction
Summary: Sonic's bright blue had begun to fade when Silver had seen it.  He couldn't get the idea out of his head, that pallid sick gray.(AU in which Sonic succumbs to the Metal Virus and the Zombot arc isn't resolved through fighting but with pandemic procedures.)(Written for the Stay Home With Sonic Zine 2020)
Relationships: Silver the Hedgehog/Sonic the Hedgehog
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	and what happened after?

**Author's Note:**

> 2.20.12,021
> 
> so, hi. i haven't posted in two years. this was what i was working on. 
> 
> the stay at home sonic was a charity fanzine that i helped mod. i was a writer, translator revisor, and social media organizer. the zine is closed now but we raised over $600 dollars to doctors without borders for covid relief :)
> 
> you can find it as @stayhomesonic on tumblr and twitter
> 
> please check it out i am literally so proud of it. it is my baby. it was my first zine and i wasn't the head mod but i am still so fucking proud. everyone's work is so poggers and there may be faces you recognize in the sonic fandom!
> 
> it took us from april 2020 to feburary 2021 to work on the zine before finally drawing it to a close. it was a long time coming and that's why i haven't posted! around 80(?) artists and writers participated and it was amazing. a lot of work and stress at times, but amazing
> 
> as for the translations of the shws zine, they sadly weren't able to come to fruition. however, the spanish one for my fic was able to be completed, so i'll post that when i can.
> 
> also tysm kat for helping me w the summary u should check out @thedorkmagiciangirl on tumblr, she's a queen w yugioh. bye

Sonic couldn’t keep running.

Despite how much you wanted to hope, reality was a clinging presence that nagged you. His legs had to collapse at some point. His body had demands to be met. 

It was a meeting by the Master Emerald shrine, where the Restoration had devised a plan to get the Chaos Emeralds to stop the Metal Virus. It wasn’t the ultimate solution, (which begrudgingly included Eggman) but the geniuses in the group proposed that if they snagged the Emeralds from his ship and conjured a device to control the infected… they could confine them all and slow the process.

Sonic, of course, vouched to go first with the plan.

His frame shuddered apart, yet he still insisted. The hero put up that grin that had always made your heart stutter. But it seemed plastered. Almost like it would splinter into fractures right there. Nausea seized your stomach at the sight of Sonic being like that. It was just so unnatural. He was the embodiment of life, his quills were meant to be as blue as the skies, his eyes as green as the plants and flowers he adored. Not this.

_ You need to stay behind, we can’t risk you like that! _ Tails protested, or something like that. Your head was too foggy to make out exact words.

_ Don’t worry about me, _ he weakly scoffed.  _ I’ll be fine if I just keep moving. _

That’s what he always says. 

Then his eyes rolled back in his head.

His knees gave in and he collapsed on the ground. Those infectious, metallic splatters on his body crept in. On his arms, on his spines, until his eyes were dying with a seeping red—

You bolted up, and lashed out your hand to seize him in a psychic grip. 

Your allies scampered away from Sonic’s spasming form, claws and unnatural fangs already dripping into his body. His smooth voice distorted from wails and howls and snarling and you didn’t know if he was fighting it back or if this was some sort of way for him to just finally say, “Get away, get away, get away,  _ please.” _

Whisper screamed. Cream started sobbing. Amy ordered everyone to get back, pushing and shoving fleeing arms. Espio cursed to the point where his throat ran hoarse. Voices melted and it was all so much noise scratching inside your head. And Sonic—

—Chaos, why couldn’t your fingers stop shaking? That wasn't him. That couldn’t have been him. Not anymore. So why was it so hard to just hold him down and get the job  _ done? _

Tails bolted in. 

You released your hold and gasped for sweet oxygen. 

He flung in a restraint that sent Sonic hurtling to the ground, leaving him reduced to a feral, wriggling mess that tried to pry out of his electric net. Only until Restoration volunteer medics came in and plugged him up with wires, tubes, and forcibly strapped him to a bed could they finally confine him into a shuttle. 

Gradually, the chattering and throng of people disappeared. Your hands still trembled and you sat on the ground to gasp for breath. Tails knelt in front of you, his high voice saying a bunch of sweet nothings that phased through your ears, and something about Sonic getting put in a facility so the kitsune could go study him and make a cure. 

But you were so tired. There was no cure, and who knew how long it would take to even conjure a vaccine. How was he so sure that he could make it?

Tails only gave a smile and pulled you in close.

It’s for the better, you told yourself as his aircraft became smaller on the horizon. He’s away so that he can become better, and so you won’t end up the same.

Or so you told yourself.

Your chest ached.

* * *

The plan worked. 

And the first month didn’t seem real.

It was so easy to forget that this was not meant to be normal. 

But eventually, you melted into a cycle. Restoration members and civilians were able to head down from Angel Island to their little corners of the world to volunteer, or take a breather.

As for you, you were stuck in this time period until this crisis was over. You decided to stay, to help, and set up house near that garden in Sunset Heights you started up with Blaze before she left for her dimension. The plants could feed you and other refugees if they needed a delivery.

Tails decided to room in with you. Since his house was already gone due to the Zombots.

And it was all temporary. 

Just temporary.

You were picking the bok choy from the hydroponic garden you and Tails had set up over the summer. The current soil was already occupied with your tomatoes, so the kid had a bright idea of creating another garden that didn’t need any dirt, just water pumping through the roots. The vegetables sprouted wonderfully from their plastic slots, yellow blossoms already popping out. The water generator hummed soundly as it pumped through the pipes.

You heard the makeshift backdoor open, and grinned at the familiar fox walking in. From the looks of the bags under his eyes, Tails had probably been holed up on his computer.

“Look who’s finally out.”

Tails rubbed his eyes, then rolled them with a smile. “Shut up. I was talking to Amy. We’re trying to organize what food deliveries to make this week.” 

“While that  _ is _ good, I don’t condone depriving yourself of good old fashioned sunshine. I’d know that.”

He put his hands up in playful surrender. “Alright, alright.”

“Anyways, these guys are ready for pickup. Some washing will do the trick.” You held out your basket of freshly picked bok choy.

The boy smiled. “You didn’t have to do all that.”

“Nah, it’s the least I can do.”

“But you’re already doing so much for me!” Tails insisted. “Like, gardening up food. Helping deliver with the Tornado. Even just taking my place in meetings at times. You’re doing this every single day.”

You shrugged. “It’s what I can do.”  
And you ignored how your bones strained from exhaustion. But whatever. It was fine.

“You can just pay him a visit, you know.”  
Your heart stuttered in place.

“... Sonic?” 

“Yeah.“ He paused. “He… he loves flowers. And it’s been a while.”

You stared at the ground. “Your vaccine  _ worked _ ?”

Tails nodded.

“I’ll…”

You gazed at your own twitching fingers, one gripped on the watering can, and the other hand clenching. This could be… so much shorter, now. Over  _ soon. _

“... I’ll think about it.”

* * *

You didn’t care about your health at this point. You’d rather have your senses go numb than have those thoughts again at night. If you just stayed up and busied your brain with nonsense you wouldn’t have to think about there was so much going  _ on right now. _

If you just sketched Sonic’s face repeatedly from memory, maybe you could remember how his quills were supposed to be without the metal dulling away that ocean blue. How he would stand in pride and his spines would rise with the wind. And not… 

You held your face in your hands.

Don’t think about it.

… You used to excitedly wake up with the sunrise in this time. Before, you’d never been able to cherish the sensation of having the  _ sun  _ being a presence that wouldn’t leave before. 

But now?

You no longer see the point.

Eventually, you laid in your bed, stared at the wall, and you just were so tiny and pathetic and useless.

This is not enough.

You curled up in the sheets.

The case numbers weren’t going down fast enough. You weren’t working hard enough.

You’ve heard of instances where even after people received Tails’ new vaccine for the virus, some shots failed and there was still metal seeping in their organs. It still ate them up from the inside, still crept into their lungs and veins and.

And what happened after?

You tighten your grip on your blankets.

What happened after?

You clawed at your head.

_ What happened after? _

And you wished you could sob, scream, and rip out your skull to just make it all go quiet.

* * *

When you finally saw Sonic again, you flew to a quarantine facility that was an islet off Adabat. He abhorred the ocean, but it made sense. Because if an infected Sonic got running before he was on Tails’ medicine? Definitely not worth it on a continent of land. An ocean would be best to slow him down.

You headed for his room. You couldn’t enter due to a glass wall confining the area, but you could see inside. The staff managed to transfer his stuff: guitar, bed, and some of those vintage books you would practice reading with him.

And there the hero was, sitting on the bed and grinning at you. Tails’ medicine was truly doing wonders, no metallic coat leeched on his skin along with horrid fangs. While his eyes weren’t as bright anymore, they were still that beautiful green they were meant to be.

He was healing.

“Um.” You fumbled awkwardly, and sat criss-crossed on your side. “Hey.”

“Hey, yourself,” he smiled.

Your heart was in your throat, your eyes watered, and you started shaking.

“... What’s that look for?” He smoothed back his spines. “Aww, c’mon. Don’t tell me the medicine has been cramping my color.”

Despite the tears that slipped down your cheeks, you burst out laughing, and rubbed at your face. It was hard to laugh through tight sobs. And Sonic couldn’t even hug you, so he pressed his forehead to the glass. And you did the same.

“I just missed you,” you choked out, “That’s all.”

You told Sonic about your new schedule. How you’ve been rooming with Tails, delivering food for refugees, how there’s a cure now that’s slowly getting mass produced. Learning this time’s alphabet, drawing, gardening… all that he when the Metal Virus had his mind in a haze.

However, the conversation slowly deterred and you grew quiet.

His brow furrowed in worry. “You wanna tell me what’s wrong, dude?”

“It’s just that—” The words flooded out of your mouth, “—I know that staying inside or staying far away from people is meant to help. But I just feel so  _ useless. _ It’s like I’m just watching the world fend for itself while I stay here. Safe. Secure. Isolated.” You bit on your tongue, seething,  _ “selfish.” _

“Hey—”

“I spent my entire time throwing myself into my work and I thought it would just…”

“...Just what, Silver?” 

“...Just get better.”

You turned your head back until it pressed against the glass barrier. 

“I don’t get it. I’m practically at my high now. I’m doing at least  _ one _ thing a day. So why do I feel like I’m wasting my life?”

“—Silver, would it  _ kill _ you to look at me?”

You turned around with shaking shoulders.

“You’re only a kid. You can’t carry the entire world on your shoulders like that, man,” he frowned, “How long have you been delivering stuff to people?”

You wracked your head to remember the proper unit, since nobody really used Cycles in this era, “... ten months. Why?”

“Y’see? You’ve been doing so much, that’s anything but selfish of you. And when d’you stop working?”

“Past midnight.”

“Then you deserve a break.”

“ _ What?  _ No—”

He held a hand out. “Take it from me. Going without sleep for longer than that does things to you.” His voice grew dry at the last part.

“You got me there,” you sunk back down with a defeated sigh.

Then, you heard a thud as Sonic’s back met the wall, his own turned to yours. The glass existed for a good reason, so this was as close as he could be. 

“Could you do that? For me?”

You tucked your knees to your chest.

“... I promise.”

It was small, but it was something.

**Author's Note:**

> as for my other wips, i have long since fallen out of the sonic fandom in the process. will i ever get insp again? hopefully. but for now, i'm taking care of myself until i find my drive to create again. thank you all so much for reading my works even though i haven't been around for two years. take care :)


End file.
